PNC Bank Business Loans Review

Starting rate: Not publicly disclosed  Best for: Small business owners with an immaculate credit history over the past five years, high borrowing needs and the ability to provide collateral

Pros and cons of PNC

PNC small business loans review

PNC is one of the largest traditional banks in the U.S., with approximately 2,300 branches in 29 states and Washington, D.C., plus strategic international offices in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and China. The current PNC Financial Corp. is the result of a 1983 merger between two banks dating back to the nineteenth century: Pittsburgh National Corporation and Provident National Corporation. With PNC, small business owners can receive support and guidance during the various stages of their company’s journey while accessing a range of small business loan products.

PNC small business financing at a glance

*Terms and rates based on SBA guidelines

Term loans

PNC offers two types of business term loans: secured and unsecured. Unsecured loans come with smaller borrowing limits at PNC — between $20,000 and $100,000. While PNC doesn’t share its rates publicly, interest rates on unsecured term loans tend to be higher than those offered on secured term loans.

You may need a secured term loan if you need to borrow more than $100,000, which typically comes with longer terms of up to 84 months and requires you to pledge collateral.

Lines of credit

Like a credit card, a business line of credit allows you to borrow money when needed, only charging interest on the withdrawn amounts. This is a great option for covering day-to-day working capital expenses like payroll, inventory, marketing campaigns and more. PNC’s secured and unsecured lines of credit differ in the amounts you can borrow, the fees and payments and whether collateral is required.

Unsecured lines have a $175 annual fee and require the minimum due to be equivalent to the greater of $100 or 1.5% of the balance owed. Secured lines of credit carry an annual fee of 0.25% of the credit line, and PNC requires interest-only payments on any amount owed on a monthly basis. It’s wise to make principal payments as quickly as possible to minimize your total interest charges.

Vehicle financing

You can borrow anywhere from $10,000 to $250,000 for a commercial or fleet vehicle with PNC, financing up to 100% of the vehicle costs. Loan terms can range from 24 to 72 months. While PNC doesn’t publicly share rates on any of its products, its business auto loan interest rates are fixed with monthly payments deducted from your business checking account.

Commercial real estate loans

PNC’s commercial real estate loans require owner-occupied commercial real estate as collateral. You can borrow $100,001 and up with terms ranging between 60 and 240 months, amortized up to 25 years. If you have an amortization period longer than your loan term, you may be able to refinance at the end of your loan term. If you cannot, a balloon payment will be due at the end of the loan term.

SBA 7(a) loans

SBA 7(a) loans are notable for their generous repayment terms and comparatively low-interest rates. The maximum SBA 7(a) loan size at PNC is $5,000,000. PNC is charged annual and guaranty fees between 0% and 3.5%, and it may pass the guaranty fees on to you as a consumer.

PNC may charge a prepayment penalty if your term is more than 15 years and you pay off more than 25% of the loan balance within the first three years of loan disbursement. Maximum loan terms are only 10 years unless you’re borrowing for real estate needs, which can extend the term up to 300 months.

SBA 504/CDC loans

SBA 504/CDC loans are typically used for commercial real estate needs, heavy equipment, construction, major renovations or business debt refinancing. The maximum amount on these loans tends to be $5,000,000 unless you are working on an energy-efficient or manufacturing project. Then, the maximum loan can go as high as $5,500,000.

SBA loan interest rates are about 3.00% of the total loan amount — a notable feature in today’s high-interest-rate environment. PNC will be charged a 0.364% annual fee by the SBA, which will likely pass on to you via closing costs. Terms can be up to 300 months.

SBA Express Lines of Credit

One downside of most SBA loans is that the approval and funding timeline can take 30 to 60 days or longer. SBA Express loans expedite that process, enabling the SBA to respond to your application within 36 hours. But in exchange for a faster turnaround time, maximum loan sizes are $500,000 at PNC. While other lenders may issue SBA Express loans up to $500,000, you can expect to offer collateral for amounts above $50,000. PNC may charge prepayment penalties if your loan term exceeds 15 years.

While PNC passes along guaranty fees to borrowers on SBA Express Lines of Credit, these fees can be waived for veteran-owned businesses.

PNC borrower requirements

For most business lending products, PNC requires two years of business history. If you have a startup business, though, the bank may be able to work with you on creative funding solutions.

PNC isn’t overly transparent with a specific credit score requirement, but it does share some of its business loan requirements. The bank wants to see a clean credit history over the past five years, with no history of late payments, charge-offs, foreclosures, tax liens, judgements, lawsuits or accounts in collections.

While there is not an explicit revenue requirement shared publicly, PNC says that it wants to see upward or stable trends in terms of revenue, and your Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) should be more than the projected principal and interest payments on the loan.

Required documents

When you apply for a business loan with PNC, make sure to have the following information and required documents on hand:

• Business name and address
• Business type and year established
• Business tax ID number or EIN number
• Annual sales
• Number of employees
• Most recent business tax return

Additionally, you’ll need the following information for each owner of the business:

• Home address
• Social Security number
• Title
• Ownership percentage
• Personal financial and historical information
• Most recent personal tax return

If you are applying for a loan that requires collateral, you will also want to include any information about the collateral in your loan application.

Alternatives to PNC

It is common for well-established traditional banks not to disclose rates or specific underwriting requirements. Unfortunately, this lack of information makes it hard to adequately compare similar loan products before applying. That said, let’s look at how PNC stacks up against the competition across the available metrics.

PNC vs. KeyBank

PNC and KeyBank offer similar loan products such as business term loans, lines of credit, commercial real estate loans and SBA loans. If your business needs access to more funds, an SBA 504 loan from KeyBank could provide up to $12,000,000 — although its SBA loans are only available in 17 states. If your business needs flexible cash on a revolving basis, you could get up to $500,000 with PNC’s SBA Express Line of Credit. Newer companies might have better luck with PNC since it only requires two years in business, instead of three years with KeyBank.

PNC vs. Truist

Truist may be a better fit for businesses with small borrowing needs, as its loan amounts cap at $250,000. Furthermore, Truist could help startups and recently established companies access the capital they need since there’s no minimum time in business needed to apply. However, PNC could be the better choice if you want to apply for an SBA loan.